Need training advice for cagebound bird

[JaneyB]

A few weeks ago I adopted a 13-year-old Citron Cockatoo, and I really need advice on how to move forward with training. He's been pretty much ignored in his cage for the last 2 years, and I don't know much from before that. I'm his 3rd home. I have heard that he was "out of his cage" all the time with his first owner, but I don't know how true that is. I do know that nobody has held him for at least 2 years.

Jax is quite cagebound. I open his cage door every day, whenever I'm home, and it stays open until bedtime. He usually stays inside, but has come out on his own a couple times. Once out, it's difficult to get him back in because he will not step up onto a hand (will try to bite) and he's terrified of a stick. I have been putting a treat in his bowl and waiting for him to climb in himself. The couple times I tried to put him back myself did not work well, and ended up with him flying to the ground (he's clipped) and me having a heck of a time to get him back to the cage. That wasn't pleasant for either of us, and he was quite miffed about that for a couple days!

I wonder if anyone has advice on how to get him comfortable with us handling him. He will take a treat from my hand, and will allow a head pet through the bars, but only for a minute before he tries to bite. (Even then, his beak is open, and his little tongue is going a mile a minute, lol!) I sit in the room with him all the time, and mostly he's content with me there, but sometimes he will make aggressive movements (bobbing up and down with beak open, or banging beak against cage). I've heard of target training, but not sure what that is, or if he's even ready for something like that. I am just afraid that if I let him get used to no contact from us, it will be harder than ever to get him to agree to it.

Please help!

 

[Kitty]

I'd continue to do what you're doing for a while. Building up trust takes time, you don't want to push him too far to fast.

Leave the cage door open to built up his confidence about the world outside the cage and let him recognise you as something good by giving him his favourite food from your hand

 

[Kantia]

I don't take any pleasure in saying this, nor is it something you want to hear, but sometimes if a bird has had a bad time in the past, sometimes they may never 'recover'. I know one Macaw who had a rough background and had a couple of homes. He now lives with a loving owner, but unfortunately he doesn't like to be handled a lot. He's very content watching the world and people around him though. Sometimes it is just something you have to accept and respect.
That being said, it's not always the case. As Kitty said, continue with what you're doing and take your time.
Regarding being petted through the bars, you could maybe do it for say... 30 seconds then move away. This might make him want attention more the next time, so you can increase the time you do this bit by bit. I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's just a suggestion.
Best of luck.

 

[LakeDesire]

Have you tried clicker and touch/target training? That's worked great for me with my 16 y/o nanday conure and it only took her a few training sessions to understand touching the stick meant she gets a treat. Jade is also scared of the step-up perch, so I have just been using a tiny chopstick for touch training, and have coaxed her out of her cage for a treat. You might try a small target if your cockatoo is fearful.

Eventually you might introduce a step-up perch that won't scare her. I find setting stuff next to Jade's cage gets her used to it--I hang a new toy or perch on the outside for a few days so she can check it out and nibble on it from the comfort of her cage.

 

[ikylejm]

Don't give up! If he is accepting treats you can clicker train him. Start by getting a clicker and feeding him a treat each time you click. After he associates the click with treats you can trying placing your hand in the cage, click and feed a treat, slowly getting closer and closer, rewarding him when he doesn't try to bite when your hand is close. Eventually allowing you to pet him. This will likely take many session, inching closer gradually. After he is more comfortable around your hands, I would move on to touch training. Clicking and treating him every time he touches a chopstick. Start moving the chopstick so he has to climb around to touch it. Eventually you can get him to step up without being aggressive. This will probably take a while and a lot of patience. But work on it slowly and not more than 10-15 minutes at a time, especially at first. You can do this multiple times a day. I don't allow my umbrella cockatoo to climb on the outside of the cage or else she always wants to play on it for a while before she steps up, but that's different with every bird. Good luck with him, I'm sure you will end up with a fun bird! Trick training and exercise should really calm some of the aggression.